Uncategorized Archives - Page 5 of 214

Gaza: Return to war must be avoided at all costs, insists UN chief

·February 11, 2025·2 min read

“We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy,” said the UN chief, in a statement relayed to journalists by UN Geneva spokesperson Rolando Gomez. “I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages next Saturday. Both...

Security Council hears of persistent and evolving Da’esh threat

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·February 11, 2025·2 min read

The discussion focused on the 20th biannual report of the Secretary-General on the threat posed by Da’esh to international peace and security. “Terrorism remains a significant and evolving threat to global peace and security, one that no State can confront in isolation,” said Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Voronkov, Head of the UN...

‘We all have someone missing’: Families of the thousands of Syrians ‘disappeared’ by Assad regime share stories of loss

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·February 11, 2025·1 min read

It has been two months since Bashar al-Assad, the former president of Syria, was forced to flee the country, as rebel forces – now installed as the interim government – advanced on Damascus, putting an end to 50 years of autocratic rule and nearly14 years of civil war. The country’s...

Two mass graves of migrants uncovered in Libya

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·February 11, 2025·2 min read

Nineteen bodies were discovered in Jakharrah, around 400 km south of the coastal city of Benghazi, while at least 30 more were found in a mass grave in the Alkufra desert in the southeast. It is believed the second grave may contain as many as 70 bodies. It is not...

Gaza crisis: Amid winter storms, humanitarians appeal for full aid access

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·February 10, 2025·2 min read

“The health system is ruined. Malnutrition is rising. The risk of famine persists,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “We are ready to scale up our response – but we urgently need systematic and sustained access to the population across...

Gaza: 10,000 aid trucks reached enclave since ceasefire began

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·February 10, 2025·2 min read

Announcing the development, the UN’s top aid official, Tom Fletcher, said that the trucks contained lifesaving food, medicine, and tents – all desperately needed by Gazans after more than 15 months of constant Israeli bombardment. The UN emergency relief chief’s comments came as he prepared to join an aid convoy...

DR Congo: Rights chief warns crisis could worsen, without international action

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·February 10, 2025·3 min read

Since 26 January, nearly 3,000 people have been killed and 2,880 injured in attacks by the M23 and their allies “with heavy weapons used in populated areas, and intense fighting against the armed forces of the DRC and their allies”, the High Commissioner said, as UN Member States weighed setting...

DR Congo crisis: Thousands flee clashes in South Kivu

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·February 10, 2025·1 min read

Escalating fighting between M23 rebels and Congolese troops has caused thousands of people to flee, with many heading towards the provincial capital, Bukavu – where UN humanitarian agencies in the east are now located following the fall of Goma. Local aid partners report that a bombing on Thursday resulted in...

Sudan: Civilian death toll triples in one week amid escalating hostilities

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·February 9, 2025·1 min read

This figure represents a threefold increase from the previous week, when at least 89 civilians lost their lives amid the ongoing hostilities.The crisis is compounded by intensifying violence in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states, where a humanitarian catastrophe looms, according to the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Clementine Nkweta-Salami....

Global forum suggests fresh ideas for 21st century UN peacekeeping

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·February 9, 2025·3 min read

“Our thinking should be grounded by the fact that we have more conflicts today than at any time since World War Two and by the evolving nature of conflict,” said Catherine Pollard, UN Under-Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance, in her opening remarks to the two-day meeting held 4...

First Person: Bodies of children in Haiti have turned into ‘battlegrounds’

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·February 9, 2025·4 min read

The agency’s spokesperson James Elder has just visited Port-au-Prince, the capital of the embattled Caribbean nation and has been speaking about what he experienced there. Staggering abuse and neglect “There has been a staggering 1,000 per cent rise in sexual violence against children in Haiti, which has turned their bodies...

US aid funding cuts put HIV prevention at risk, warns UNAIDS

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·February 9, 2025·2 min read

The waiver allows the continuation or resumption of “life-saving humanitarian assistance” including HIV treatment. That means 20 million people living with HIV and whose medication is funded by the US can continue to receive treatment. “That’s 20 million out of the 30 million people living with HIV in the world,” said...